Tips for Street Fighter Alpha 3?

For most of my life I was a Mortal Kombat player. part of why was that the games were much more violent than anything else, but mostly it was because it was easier to play than the rest. its controls were easier to get the hang of and it wasn't too complicated. I just couldn't get what was the deal with street fighter 2 and its sequels. it was too hard, I had a hard time moving around and the controls were weird. plus you couldn't split people in half or rip their arms off in them. Even Killer Instinct was too complicated for me.

about two years ago though, I started playing capcom fighters as well as a couple SNK ones, and Guilty Gear XX (because bridget, though I eventually settled on playing as Faust), but I thoroughly suck at them, and last night while playing street fighter alpha 3 on mame, I realized I just wasn't getting better fast enough. there's still too many things I don't understand in those games, too many things I fail at and I simply can't see through the enemy AI's moves. I tried looking online for tips and such but I couldn't find anything. maybe I'm not searching for the right thing?

Anyway, I figured I'd ask here for help, and also that I should focus on one game instead of so many, so that would be SFA3, since it's the one I play most often (I even have it on my psp).

I am playing as Ryu, because I find him to be simple enough for me. I do know his moves but not his supers (plus I don't even know exactly how throws are done). I'll eventually start playing as other characters once I start getting better, it was like that with MK2, where I started playing as Kung Lao, then Johnny Cage, then Sub Zero and finally Baraka.

Any help would be really appreciated.

 

If you want help, check out this wiki with all the info you need on the system & some Ryu info: http://wiki.shoryuken.com/Street_Fighter_Alpha_3

People on shoryuken.com probably still play A3. It might be good to search around the forums there as well.

I don't play A3, so I can't help too much with specifics, but this is what generally what you should do when learning a new game:

The first thing to do is to get the basics first. Get in training mode. Learn the system, learn the different -isms (V is generally the best, but requires a good bit of skill). Learn how to throw. Learn all of Ryu's normals first. Learn their range & how fast they come out. Then move to specials. Once you can execute the special moves 100% of the time, move to combos.

Ryu's most basic combo is Jump in HK, crouch MK, QCF+HP. once you get that down, understand that you can "cross up" players by jumping over them & hitting them just as you pass over the opponent with the jump in HK. this is called a "cross up" because the player has to block the other way.

Once you master that combo, find a combo faq/guide and learn more.

Learn situational strategies. What should you do when you are far away from the opponent? (maybe fireball?) What should you do when you are neutral & close range compared to your opponent? (move in & out to bait a slow move, punish with a crouch MK, QCF+HP ?). What should you do when you are on the ground and the opponent is on top of you (throw? dragon punch?). What should you do when the opponent is down? What do you do vs someone who blocks very well?

Finally, learn character specific strategies. How can Ryu deal with Dalshim, Akuma or Sodom? You must have some level of understanding of everyone else's moves as well.

Further reading on getting started with fighting games in general: http://insertcredit.com/2013/01/14/the-educated-gentlepersons-fighting-game-primer/

 

I find play ken would be easier to play with as his dragon punch is better (more invincibility frames) and to do a super, just do the movement for a fireball twice and a punch.

 

So from what I gather, these are half getting the controls right and half messing with your opponent's head?

 

Getting the controls right is basics, getting the timing right for combos is more important. Messing with your opponent's head is a must, as well as trying to read their moves/tactics as the match plays out.

 

Learning how to use your move set is more important than anything for a beginner. My first suggestion is to go on YouTube and watch some match videos, it's best to probably look for Japanese match videos as they still play the game pretty regularly. It's important if you want to learn a game to know how the game is played, and the best way to do that is to simply watch other people play the game. Remember however that AI opponents don't play like human opponents, so try not to focus on strategy for now, just observe how they use their normals, how they use projectiles for pressure and how they respond to situations, you can use these skills against the AI but it wont fall for strategies. Once you get confident with the pace of the game you can go in training mode and work on combos, that way you can deal more damage from situations and reduce your chances of losing. Lastly my advice is to go on GGPO and just play human opponents because you're going to get the best experience from there, however it's best to know how to play the game first and I guess that's something to build up to unless you just want to jump straight into it. Since you want to learn Ryu here's something to get you started.

 

Spacing and mind games! Although I've found the AI to be pretty good at reacting to exactly what you're doing in order to counter. lol

 

GGPO is really great <3 I've been playing on it for a bit, and in around 30 matches I won exactly one round. That's still one round more than I expected to win, and honestly I don't mind losing, I'm still having tons of fun and I'm still just a beginner so it lets me learn. Anyway, if any of you shows up on GGPO and sees someone called SammyFox, that's me. feel free to come beat me up in Street Fighter Alpha 3

 

tips for SFA3??
dont play SFA3.
The v-ism is broken, Air grabbing -.-, shitty balancing, juggling is broken, guard breaking is fucking shitty, over heads are slow, cpu are cheap as fuck

Play SFA2 gold. It is my favorite street fighter, and so much better than alpha 3, trust my opinion its coming from a veteran sakura player. sakura ftw.

 

A2 was my favorite as well! Until I played A3 that is! A2 is still a classic game though, by far one of the best looking SF games going if you ask me, the Saturn does it justice!

 

I play on a-ism so that doesn't really concern me. Besides it's the street fighter game I've played most often so I'm gonna play it till I'm better and I feel I'm ready to move to something else.

 

Honestly, just give alpha 2 gold a try. it is tonnes better

 

I do like the Dreamcast version of Alpha 3, as it has Feilong, but they say get the Saturn or Mame version due to accuracy. I find it odd that the PS2 version couldn't bother to add the extra stuff, especially when it would've still fit on the disc.

 

You can unlock hyper street fighter alpha in ps2 which is the ultimate version. has all characters from 1,2,2gold,3,3upper in it.

 

x

 

Got it in one!

 

Are you serious!? Not only did the PS2 offer 2 Coin Op iterations of Alpha/Zero 3 (one of which is only available on PS2 btw), but they also made Hyper Alpha. That's a lot of bang your your buk especially at the original MSRP.
And why would you recommend Zero 2 Alpha (aka: 2Gold)? It was nothing more than a failed attempt to rebalance standard Alpha 2.

 

x

 

The most major difference between MK and Street Fighter is the way you block.

In MK, it's a button (usually L, or Start on a Sega Genesis 3-button ;P).
In Street Fighter, you have to distance yourself from the opponent.

Street Fighter allowed for combos and multiple hits to come from one command (For Ryu- D,Back,HK could get you a 6-hit combo). Mortal Kombat started out as a hit-by-hit style of fighting game, it got combos by MK3 but they were executed differently (like you could hit Run, HK, HK, HK, HP, HP, HP for a 6-hit combo)

Above all, feel it out, different mechanics, same idea in mind. Alpha 3 is a great choice btw, I personally think it's tied with 3rd Strike for being the best Street Fighter of all.

 

!!!???